Governor:
Former Rep. Jay
Inslee
(D) defeated Attorney
General Rob
McKenna (R) by 1,582,802 (51.54%) to 1,488,245 (48.46%).
The
last Republican governor was John D. Spellman,
elected in 1980. U.S. Senate: In her
bid for a third term, Sen. Maria
Cantwell
(D) defeated state Sen. Michael
Baumgartner (R) by 60.45% to 39.55%.U.S. House: In the
1st CD, a mostly rural district in NW Washington, Rep. Jay Inslee
resigned in March to focus on his run for governor. On Nov. 6
there was a special election to fill the remainder of his term as well
as the regular general election. Suzan DelBene (D), the
former Microsoft executive who narrowly lost to Rep. Reichert in 2010
won both elections, defeating Snohomish
County
Councilman
John Koster (R), a former
state representative who challenged Inslee in 2010 and also ran in
2000. In the 6th CD (Olympic Peninsula, Tacoma), opened by the
retirement of Rep. Norm Dicks (D), State Sen. Derek Kilmer (D) defeated Bill Driscoll (R), a Marine
Corps veteran who has worked in the forest products industry, by 59% to
41%. In the new 10th CD, businessman and former House Majority
Leader Denny Heck (D),
who
lost
to
Jaime
Herrera
(R)
in
the
3rd
CD
race
in
2010, defeated Pierce County CouncilmemberDick
Muri
(R), who lost to Adam Smith
(D) in the 9th CD race in 2010, by 58.56% to 41.44%. The
delegation balance goes from 4D,
4R
and
1v
to
6D,
4R.State Legislature:All 98 House seats and 24
of 49 Senate
seats were up. Democrats kept control of both chambers;
the House went from 56D,
42R
to
55D, 43R and
the Senate from 27D,
22R to 26D, 23R.
Ballot Measures:
Voters decided six ballot measures. They approved Initiative 1185,
which would require two-thirds legislative majorities
or voter approval for tax increases, by 63.91% to 36.09%; approved
Initiative 1240 on creation of a public charter school system by
50.69% to 49.31%; approved R-74to allow same sex marriage
by 53.7% to
46.3%; and approved I-502to license and regulate
marijuana production, by 55.7% to 44.3%.

Overview:The Obama/Biden ticket won Washington
State with a plurality of 464,726 votes (14.87 percentage points),
carrying 16 counties to 23 for Romney/Ryan.
Romney carried all of the Eastern counties as well as Lewis and Wahkiakum. Obama's plurality in King County
(Seattle area) was 392,304 votes. The major party principals made a few
visits to Washington State mostly for
fundraisers in the Seattle area (+).Obama
| (Romney)BALLOT
[PDF]

Suspending the
Presidential Preference Primary
Allthough almost 1.4
million
people participated in the 2008 presidential primary, the Democratic
Party did not
use
the primary as part of its presidential nominating process and the
Republicans only
partially used it to allocate delegates. In 2004 it was cancelled.

Gov.
Gregoire's
proposed
2011-13 budget, released in mid-Dec. 2010, sought to suspend the
state
presidential primary, saving $10 million in general fund
expenditures. According to a supporting document (Government
Efficiency), "Every four years, the state of Washington is required
by law to conduct a presidential primary and reimburse counties for the
state’s share of election costs for the primary. While the next
presidential primary is scheduled in 2012, the Secretary of State will
introduce legislation to suspend it." (Reed
statement). Legislation was introduced in
January.

Republicans argued, as
summarized by
legislative staff: "This bill is contrary to the will of the people
expressed in an initiative. Without this primary, military and
overseas, elderly, and working voters are disenfranchised because they
can't participate in the caucuses. The Republicans always use this
primary to choose at least a portion of their delegates. This primary
is not a frill. People often do not participate in caucuses and this,
the presidential preference primary, offers them a way to participate."

Secretary Reed argued, as
summarized
by legislative staff: "A broad cross-section of voters participate in
the Presidential Preference Primary, which is preferable to the party
caucus system, where fewer voters participate. However, the political
parties are legally entitled to ignore the results of the presidential
primary, so it becomes merely a beauty contest. Therefore, due to the
state’s fiscal situation, the cost savings outweigh the benefits of
holding the primary."

The Senate
passed SB
5119 on April 6, 2011 by a vote of 34-15, the House passed
the measure on April 19 by 69-28 and 1 excused, and Gov. Gregoire
signed it on May 12.

"Most
voters are choosing to vote
by mail this election. Of the 39 counties, 37 are using vote-by-mail
exclusively. King and Pierce also offer poll-site voting on November 4,
but most of their voters are voting by mail." -SoS

2008
OverviewThe Obama-Biden ticket
amassed a plurality of 521,632 votes (17.17 percentage points),
carrying 20 counties to 19 for McCain. There were few candidate visits.
The
presidential
race
in
Washington
tightened
for
a
time
after
the
Republican
National
Convention,
but
for
most
of
the
Fall
the
governor's
race
was
the
center
of attention.Obama/Allies
|
McCain/Allies| Nader

2,517,028
total
votes
were
cast;
of
these
1,364,607,
or
54.2%,
were
absentee
ballots.

Official Results

+Gore/Lieberman
(Dem.)

1,247,652

(50.15)

Bush/Cheney
(Rep.)

1,108,864

(44.57)

Browne/Olivier
(Lib.)

13,135

(0.52)

McReynolds/Hollis
(Soc.)

660

(0.02)

Nader/LaDuke
(Grn.)

103,002

(4.14)

Moorehead/La
Riva(WWP)

1,729

(0.07)

Phillips/Frazier
(Const.)

1,989

(0.08)

Buchanan-Foster
(FDM)

7,171

(0.28)

Harris-Trowe
(SWP)

304

(0.01)

Hagelin-Goldhaber
(NLP)

2,927

(0.11)

Total........2,487,433

2000
OverviewWashington had gone
Democratic
for the past three elections, but the Nader factor created a degree of
uncertainty. The Bush campaign invested significant resources;
Gore-Lieberman
nonetheless ended up winning the state with a plurality of 138,788
votes
(5.58 percentage points). Gore carried 11 counties to 28 for
Bush.
Washington was the scene of one of the most closely fought U.S. Senate
races as Maria Cantwell (D) defeated incumbent Slade Gorton (R) with a
plurality of just 2,229 votes (0.09 percentage points). Voters
also
faced seven ballot measures. General
Election Activity